Stronger together

Students find friendship, support in online nursing program

Kristal Tribble and Tina Williamson met in person for the second time at convocation.
Buoyed by their experiences in UofSC's online RN to bachelor's of science in nursing
degree program, the friends are currently pursuing online master's degrees through
the College of Nursing.

As a student in a nursing program in 2005, Kristal Tribble of Laurens, S.C., dropped
out of an online typing class in sheer frustration and switched to a course with live
instruction. A decade later, enrolling in an online program seemed a far-fetched way
for the registered nurse to reach her goal of earning a bachelor’s degree.

But her inner voice said to go for it. The full-time nurse, wife and mother to three
school-age daughters was determined to further her education.

Across the state in Georgetown, Tina Williamson wondered if she could summon the strength
to go back to school again. She had graduated from high school in 1984 then worked
for 15 years as a restaurant manager before staying home to raise three children.

While watching her father battle lung cancer, she began to notice all the ways the
hospice nurse cared for him — tending to his medicines and meals, yes, but also making
him comfortable, talking to him and reassuring him and her whole family — and Williamson
began to consider a career in nursing. She jumped in head-first, earning her CPR certification
on a Saturday and starting her nursing classes the following Monday.

That was 2001. Williamson had three children, a husband, a mortgage, car payments,
while her classmates were teenagers.

Fast forward 14 years, and she Williamson reached another crossroads. If she wanted
to advance her career, she would have to earn at least a bachelor’s degree. But could
she really return to the classroom again?

Tribble and Williamson turned to online learning through the University of South Carolina’s
College of Nursing's RN to BSN program, which seemed the most flexible way to mesh school with the rest of their lives.
Since the program is delivered online, outside of a traditional live classroom, each
envisioned it as a test of self-mettle, an exercise of the power of one.

Instead, they found community and friendship, connecting in their first set of classes
and sticking together ever since. The pair graduated with the program’s first cohort
in 2017.

“We are definitely each other’s sounding boards and motivators,” Williamson says.
“Sometimes between our family obligations, our work obligations and our school obligations,
it’s really easy to get discouraged.

“But we’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders, and if we get frustrated or feel like
we’re going to give up, the other one says, ‘No, you can’t do that. We can get through
this. You can do it. You’re almost there.’ ”

I can do anything for seven weeks.

Kristal Tribble, online nursing student

Expanding their knowledge base and practice scope by earning a bachelor’s degree has
already paid off. Shortly after graduation, Tribble accepted a position as a nurse
manager on an inpatient geriatric psychiatric unit at Mary Black Health System in
Spartanburg, S.C. Williamson, likewise, was promoted from the informatics team at
Carolinas Hospital System to an associate director position with an orthopedic/neurology
unit and joined the hospital’s Leadership Carolinas program, which requires bachelor’s
degree preparation.

And because of their success with the RN to BSN program, the pair immediately entered
the University of South Carolina’s highly ranked master’s of organizational leadership degree program. Tribble has set her sights on becoming a case manager to help improve
the continuity of patient care while Williamson is interested in hospital management
with the ultimate goal of becoming a chief nursing officer.

Advancing nursing education in SC

Tribble and Williamson are like many nurses across South Carolina, answering the state’s
call to return to the classroom and earn a bachelor’s degree or more. The National
Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), a national nonprofit organization
that provides evidence-based health care policies and recommendations, in 2010 issued
a report calling for 80 percent of the country’s nurses to have earned at least their
bachelor’s degree by 2020. In South Carolina, the state set its goal for 65 percent
of the nursing workforce to be at least bachelor’s prepared by 2020, up from 41 percent
of the workforce in 2010, according to the College of Nursing’s Office of Healthcare Workforce Research for Nursing.

In response, hospitals and health care systems across the state have begun issuing
education requirements for current nurses as well as new hires. For example, new nurses
at some institutions must begin a bachelor’s degree program within two to three years
of hire and successfully complete it within four to five years, and many employers
are offering tuition reimbursement to help offset the cost.

With demand for bachelor’s-level training on the rise, colleges and universities are
rolling out programs to meet demand. In a rural state where not all learners live
within a reasonable driving distance of an accredited program and where many students
must continue to work full time while they are enrolled, online learning has emerged
as a key solution.

By the time they finish, they realize 'I have a world out there and I’m going to make
a difference.'

Joan Creed, clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing

Clinical assistant professor Joan Creed has been teaching in the College of Nursing’s
online RN to BSN program since its inception. Creed, an online student herself in
the college’s doctor of nursing practice program, said many of her students are adult
learners who are nervous about returning to the classroom.

“I just encourage them and reinforce that if I can do it — I’ve been out of school
for a long time — you can do it,” she says.

Creed said she strives to ensure class material is well organized, with learning activities,
objectives and learning resources easy to find. She also designs the course with learning
efficiency in mind, searching for the best ways to deliver material using a variety
of methods, including videos, reading assignments and group projects. She communicates
with students through online meetings, phone calls and emails and encourages students
to use the class discussion board where they can help one another and she can answer
common questions in one place.

As a professor of community/population health, Creed helps students see the bigger
picture of patient health beyond the point of care and how they, as nurses, must evaluate
external factors such as income, education level, transportation, and access to health
insurance and health care to improve the health of South Carolinians.

She’s been proud to watch her students gain confidence in their abilities and knowledge
and in turn seek out new career opportunities. “By the time they finish, they realize
'I have a world out there and I’m going to make a difference,' ” she says.

Forging a friendship in the virtual classroom

Tribble and Williamson have only met in person twice but consider each other friends
outside of the nursing program.

The women lean on each other for moral support as well as classroom help. They’ll
text each other to make sure they understand assignments or call if they need help
writing a research citation. Sometimes they have marathon speaker phone sessions before
exams to review the materials and quiz each other, and they even practiced their conversational
Spanish skills by phone.

Unlike the College of Nursing’s traditional programs with semester-long classes, the
curriculum in the online programs is accelerated, with courses delivered in seven
weeks. Although students may choose how many courses to take at one time, Williamson
and Tribble elect to take the full two-course load.

Tribble says she gears herself up before each session starts, noting that she has
learned, “I can do anything for seven weeks.”

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